If you want to win a publishing deal, or even spark a bidding war, here is number 6 in my top 10 tips.

Tip# 6: Base your ideas in the real world. Tell us how. Make it practical.

Self-help is the world’s biggest-selling category, currently hauling in $1 billion every year, says Jessica Lamb Shapiro, author of “Promise Land” and expert in the genre.

Some might despise the how-to category, but I’m not one. I love books that help me. Books offer me a quiet and space to make a shift in the way I think and act. The chance to change in private.

Nike’s slogan “Just do it” is all very well. But the awesome Brene Brown, in “Daring Greatly”, shows me how and why. As did Susan Jeffers, “Fear the fear and do it anyway” published in 1987.

Perhaps you have a niche how-to message for the vegan vets of Brighton. That is brilliant but it won’t get you a publishing deal (although you will win lots of work if you self-publish a book for them).

Make your practical how-to book about the big human themes (Tip #5) and perhaps apply some of my other tips.

Stick to it.

KATH